It is a little phrase that I have never noticed before.
I have read or heard some version of the Noah flood story probably over a thousand times throughout my lifetime. The number of times has significantly increased with the development of children in my life, of course. It is a favorite story, ranking up there with Zacchaeus and the Loaves and the Fishes because…you know…animals and all. Actually, those animals have to do with the phrase that I never noticed before. Want to know what it is?
Before I tell you, a thought about the rainbow for a moment.
The rainbow is the sign of the promise that God made concerning destroying all life on the earth again. As long as rainbows continue to appear, we know that God will not send another earth drowning flood. Rainbows are beautiful and all, but have you ever thought about the fact that each time you see one, God is reminding us, and God is being reminded also, of the promise?
It is an active promise that has not stopped. It is an active promise that God has not forgotten. It is an active promise that each generation of people get to see anew.
It is an active promise that seems to fade with adulthood. When I was a child and I saw a rainbow, not only did I try to chase it across the fields, attempting to stand in its multicolored glory…which I never accomplished by the way, rainbows are shifty things, never staying put…but when I saw a rainbow I knew that God was talking to me at that very moment. When a rainbow showed up, I just knew that God was giving me the promise of life and security from destruction at that very moment.
Do you want God to talk to you directly even in these days and times? Just go look at a rainbow. It is an active promise to us even today.
As a child, I inherently knew it to be an active promise.
Adulthood and the study of light and prisms and all that, I supposed, tampers down the promise giving wonder of God and rainbows, but they need not. It still shows up as a promise even now.
It is a promise from God that never dies or fades. As Isaiah says: “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God will stand forever.”
That sort of reminds me of that phrase in the story that I never noticed before.
I once had a random thought (which as a kid with an active imagination I have always been prone to having), and the thought went something like this: if all people on the earth died from some sort of disease or something like that (not because God wanted us all to perish, but we did anyway), would there still be rainbows?
It is an interesting random thought for a child, is it not? If rainbows are a promise for us, then will the promise still shine even after we are gone?
My answer is: probably, I guess. Scientifically, prisms will still scatter light, and theologically the word of God…the promises of God…will stand forever, even after we are gone.
It all has to do with God’s promise to us and does not have anything to do with us accepting it or believing it. But, beyond that, there is the phrase that jumped out at me while reading the Noah story for the 1561st time that also helped me to answer my own question in a small, but significant way.
It is contained within this sentence of scripture from Genesis: "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth” (NRSV, Genesis 9:12-13.
Did anything jump out at you?
Here is the idea that jumped out at me: not only is the promise of the rainbow intended for every person of every nation and color and persuasion and ideology (it is for all people now and forever), but it is also a promise to the earth, including the animals. You know, those cute animals that we count two by two and sing about coming off the boat three by three…you know because of being locked up in a boat for 40 days and 40 nights.
God makes a promise to all living creatures.
So, to answer my childhood random thought; yes the rainbow will still shine even if humans are gone in the future, because the promise is for all living creatures, not just us. The gnats and cockroaches will be gazing at the multicolored promise long after any apocalyptic war takes us out.
God cares for all that God has created. This should not be an earth-shattering revelation in any way, but in today’s world where desire for more and more overcomes love for others, and greed overcomes care for others, the idea actually is sort of earth-shattering.
We modern people assume that the earth is a gift for us to use as we wish, but we forget that we were actually created to be gifts for the earth. We were made to be stewards or caretakers of all to whom that God has made the promise.
Not only does God not want to lose a single one of us humans, but God also desires to redeem all creation.
Colossians is clear on this: “Through [Christ] God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.”
The cross redeems all. The rainbow too will always shine its active promise to all creation, whether humans are there to see or not. The promises of God are for all on earth that God loves, not just us humans.
And, that was my revelation after reading this text for well over the thousandth time. It finally sunk in, like really sunk in, that God values all that God created. God actually does care for the animals that God saved two by two. It is not just a cute story. It is a story of dramatic salvation for the bunnies, mice, and elephants.
And, the rainbow is a promise that they will not be destroyed by God again because of the carelessness and sinfulness of human beings. Animals will no longer be a scapegoat for our own sins.
All creation is loved and valued enough to create an eternal promise that shines on little children running in fields and the deer running in the same field alike.
"This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh…” (NRSV, Genesis 9:12-15a).
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